Bain Murders

Black hands podcast

Martin van Beynen, in association with Stuff, has put together a ten part podcast on the Bain story. Van Beynen has covered the Bain case since 1997 and sat through the 2009 retrial. He has written a number of Op-eds in the Christchurch Press about the Bain case and has as much knowledge about the case as anyone.

DAVID BAIN'S COMPENSATION BID HAS BEEN TURNED DOWN

David Bain has failed in his application for compensation for alleged wrongful imprisonment. Justice Callinan concluded that he is not innocent beyond reasonable doubt, meaning that compensation could not be made.

However, because the Bain team intended to legally challenge the Callinan report, the Ministry had done a deal with the Bain team to provide an ex gratia payment of $925,000 in exchange for closure. Further legal action would have cost more money, and the decision to settle is driven by the desire not to spend any more money on the case.

News

The defamation hearing between Joe Karam and members of the Justice for Robin Bain group, Kent Parker and Vic Purkiss starts on 15 October this week. The first day, 14 October, has been set aside for pre-trial hearings and is closed to the public.

In a recent interview for TVNZ, in relation to the recent allegations of residue marks on Robin's thumb, his brother, Michael was interviewed and continues to maintain his support for Robin's innocence in the face of allegations made by the Bain defence. Michael Bain considers his brother to be a man of integrity and refuses to comment on the motivation of the Bain defence, and specifically Karam, as to why he is pursuing his claims.

David Bain is appealing, through his lawyers, for access to the documents previously disallowed by Justice Keane. The Appeal will be lodged in a number of weeks, further postponing the judicial review process and any consequent decision on compensation.

Judge Kean rejected the application for discovery of some 250 documents which the applicants, David Bain and Joe Karam wanted to have access to for their judicial review into Judith Collin's decision regarding Justice Binnie's report on David Bain's compensation. In so doing he cited Lord Bingham with the following at paragraph [149]:

On Tuesday 27 August parties convened for a pre-trial hearing to discuss some matters of process for the upcoming trial and to hear the testimony of one witness. Matters under discussion included length of trial, details on the compiliation of the bundle of documents, overdue discovery requirements, indemnity costs from July 2012 and others. Counsel for Karam expressed a desire to reduce the evidence being put forward by the People, represented by Kent Parker, and so another hearing is being held in September to test admissibility.

David Bain's judicial review in respect of the Binnie report has so far failed to produce any postive result of for the petitioner. The court has found in favour of Judith Collins. See TV3 News, Yahoo News, DomPost,

Justice Courtney has been appointed to oversee the defamation trial between the People and Joe Karam. This is a judge only trial. Counsel for Joe Karam is now Peter McKnight, the well known media law specialist from Wellington rather than Michael Reed as previously thought. A pre-trial conference is being held on August 27 in order to arrange affairs for the trial on 14 October.

The police, in the company of Mr Karam, will endeavour to test the rifle used in the Bain murders. The police are undertaking this exercise in response to the 3rd degree documentary that was screened in June.

Police, in the presence of Joe Karam and other stakeholders will carry out tests on David Bain's gun in light of the recent claims regarding parallel lines on Robin Bain's thumb in a photo taken at the crime scene which was the subject of a documentary in June on 3rd Degree called Smoking Gun.